Ethics Education? | an American Warrior | Campaign Emory: Helping Students Mind Sharpened at Emory
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WINTER 2011 Gray Matters What does it mean to be ethically engaged? Ethics Education? | An American Warrior | Campaign Emory: Helping Students Mind sharpened at Emory. Vision too. Our focus is your focus. At Emory Vision, the difference in our service is clear. As the only LASIK provider affiliated with Emory Healthcare, we offer superior outcomes and meticulous care. To schedule a free initial exam, call 404-778-2733 or visit www.emoryvision.org. EFC 3227fullpage_vision.indd 1 12/21/10 10:39 AM WINTER 2011 contents VOL. 86, NUMBER 4 FEATURES 20 Ethics Ed Biology 101, English literature, calculus, and . ethics? Emory’s Center for Ethics is at the heart of a range of efforts to infuse education here with an ethical sensibility, from the College to the professional schools—and far beyond the classroom. BY JIM AUCHMUTEY 26 An American Warrior Colonel Ted Westhusing 03PhD wrote his dissertation on military honor and considered Iraq a “just war” in the ancient tradition, so he signed up—a decision that probably cost the West Point professor his life. BY MARY J. LOFTUS 32 From Lab to Life Startling breakthroughs in genetic engineering, nanotechnology, and synthetic biology are giving the newly appointed Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues—vice chaired by President James Wagner—plenty to think about. BY MARY J. LOFTUS 36 The Devil You Know The digital revolution is transforming the way we work, play, and socialize, creating new connections and making worlds of information immediately accessible. But is there a dark side to the way people behave behind the screen? BY PAIGE P. PARVIN 96G CAMPAIGN CHRONICLE ONLINE AT WWW.EMORY.EDU/MAGAZINE 42 PHILANTHROPIST HONORS SURGEON WITH GIFT WONDERFUL, WICKED WIKIPEDIA Former Emory marketing intern 43 GOIZUETA GRAD INVESTS Ani Vrabel 10C describes her efforts to shape the IN YOUNG STUDENTS University’s Wikipedia entry and her love-hate relationship with the vast, enigmatic web resource. 44 ALUMNUS MAKES CHALLENGE GIFT TO N ATWOOD, LIVE Find multimedia coverage de EMORY LAW FUND of the Ellmann Lecture Series featuring novelist OR B Margaret Atwood; see story, page 6. NN NN A TANGO TEST Seniors at Emory’s Wesley On the cover: Illustration by Alex Nabaum. NGO: NGO: Woods Center see if they can dance their way to ta better balance, mobility, and overall health in this Y; Y; M video; see story, page 16. R A . S . U NG: NG: USI H west WINTER 2011 magazine 1 REGISTER 50 Emory Medalists 2010 Nurse practitioner Twilla Haynes 80MN and business leader William Warren III 53B earn the highest alumni honor. 52 ALUMNI INK 54 STELLAR DUO 59 TRIBUTE CAROLYN CARSON MOORE S CHAI B L E OF NOTE 60 CODA EVOLVING EMPATHY 6 Mistress of Mischief Author Margaret Atwood explored other planets, burning bushes, and “ustopias” as this year’s Ellmann Lecturer. (Just don’t call her stuff sci-fi.) 9 pORTRAITS OF DIVERSITY 16 pRESCRIPTION: TANGO 10 THE SPOKESMAN I S B A C K 16 NASA GRANT LAUNCHES AT OXFORD STUDY ON SPACE RADIATION 11 WHAT STONE-AGE TOOLS TELL US 17 SUSTAINABLE EFFORTS FINDING GREEN FRIENDS 12 CAMPUS BEAT E M O R Y ’ S ON FACEBOOK STUDENT HONOR COUNCIL 17 HISTORY BY SKYPE 13 ZZZZS AND DISEASE 18 DYNAMIC FORCES C A N 14 IN THE RING WITH A CALM MIND BRING THE SHADOWBOXERS BETTER HEALTH? 15 DOH! THe “HOMER 19 jOHNSON MEDALISTS SIMPSON” GENE Editor Associate Editor Emory Magazine Editorial Advisory Board EMOry MagaZIne (USPS-175- 420) is published quarterly by Paige P. Parvin 96G Mary J. Loftus Emory Creative Group, 1762 Clifton [email protected] [email protected] Ginger Cain 77C 82G Kathy Kinlaw 79C 85T Ex Officio Road, Plaza 1000, Atlanta, Georgia Director of Public Associate Director, 30322. Periodicals postage paid at Art Director Lead Photographer Ron Sauder Atlanta, Georgia, and additional Programming, Center for Ethics mailing offices. POSTMASTER: send Vice President for eaa Erica Endicott Kay Hinton Emory Libraries address changes to OffIce OF E Hank Klibanoff Communications and H AlumnI and DEVelOpment T Production Manager Copy Editor Susan Henry-Crowe James M. Cox Jr. Chair in Marketing RecOrds, 1762 Clifton Road, Y Suite 1400, Atlanta, Georgia 30322. Stuart Turner Jane Howell tes Dean, Chapel and Journalism R Susan Carini 04G U Religious Life Emory Magazine is distributed O Gary Laderman Executive Director, C Editorial Intern Advertising Manager free to all alumni and to parents of : Arri Eisen Professor of Religion Emory Creative Group undergraduates, as well as to other es Alyssa Young 11C David McClurkin R friends of the University. Address Professor of Pedagogy ca Contributors Photographers Lanny Liebeskind Allison Dykes changes may be sent to the Office of Alumni and Development Steve Fennessy Professor of Chemistry Vice President for ORY Jim Auchmutey Ann Borden Records, 1762 Clifton Road, Suite Editor, Atlanta Magazine Alumni Relations em Susan Carini 04G Bryan Meltz Margery McKay 1400, Atlanta, Georgia 30322 Vice President, Health or [email protected]. If you are N; Bridget Guernsey Riordan Gary Hauk 91PhD de Beverly Clark an individual with a disability and Carol Clark Dean of Students Sciences Development Vice President and wish to acquire this publication OR B Frans de Waal Deputy to the President in an alternative format, please Nadine Kaslow Cathy Wooten contact Paige P. Parvin (address NN A Eric Rangus Director of above) or call 404.727.7873. : Professor and Chief D No. 111006-3 © 2011, a publica- Communications, OO Psychologist, Grady tion of Emory Creative Group, a Memorial Hospital Oxford College department of Communications and Marketing. atw 2 magazine WINTER 2011 THE BIG PICTURE 8 Happy Thoughts Want to be happy? And if so, is that bad? Faith leaders joined His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama to debate the path to true fulfillment at the Interfaith Summit on Happiness, held at Emory in October. Photo by Bryan Meltz. WINTER 2011 magazine 3 prelude The Choices We Make When I Was about fourteen—the age In this issue of Emory Magazine, we ask my son is now—I stole a pair of bowling shoes. a few questions of our own, starting with the It was a snap, really. Some friends and I meaning and impact of ethical engagement in had gone bowling on a rainy afternoon, out of the University’s vision statement. Can ethical small-town boredom, I suppose. Rather than behavior be taught to college students, or is it changing back into my own shoes after we deeply embedded in character formation that finished, I walked out in the bowling shoes. I begins at home many years before? The answer, thought they were cool. I thought I was cool. it appears, may be a little of both; what our I also thought that taking them was not faculty can do is urge students to question, to such a big deal. I had left my own tennis shoes, think deeply, to assess and actively respond to after all, which were actually much nicer. So I problems, and to consider the lives of others dif- didn’t even bother to try to hide them from my ferent from their own. What is also clear is that parents. Which was a mistake. Emory hopes to see its stated institutional com- My father was livid. He roared. He made mitment to ethics reflected in its students, as in me take the shoes back, find the bowling alley all of us who make up the broader community. manager, and apologize (the mystified man The challenges are steeper for some than Everyone wants to be a kindly returned my own shoes). I truly believe others. As vice chair of President Obama’s my dad thought jail time would not have been special Commission for the Study of Bioethical “good person,” and most too harsh a lesson. Issues, Emory’s own president is confronting At the time, I thought his reaction was over- some of the thorniest and most compelling of us, I would bet, think kill. But now that I’m a parent myself, I under- ethical problems of the day in the field of stand that it wasn’t just about some worn-out synthetic biology—including the fascinating of ourselves that way. bowling shoes. It was about his need to see his question of whether life can, or should, be cre- own high standards and deep values reflected ated through technology. In this issue, we also in me, and his keen sense of frustration and visit the widow of Emory graduate Colonel Ted failure when that reflection blurred. To me, tak- Westhusing 03PhD, who was ultimately unable ing the shoes seemed harmless enough—more to reconcile his idea of a “just war” with the mischievous than malicious. To him, it was work he did in Iraq. stealing, plain and simple. And if I was capable And, as virtual reality becomes the new of that, what other bad things might I do? reality, we asked some faculty experts to weigh Everyone wants to be a “good person,” and in on how people behave online—where some- most of us, I would bet, think of ourselves that times consequences far outstrip intentions. way. We’re so confident that we relish hypo- Most of us don’t have to make recommen- thetical scenarios in which our personal ethics dations to the White House on bioethics policy, are put to the test, as in those TV shows where or question whether our contribution to the ordinary citizens are lured into moral predica- US presence in Iraq aligns with our studied ments while hidden cameras roll: What would beliefs regarding war and ethics.